From 2001 to 2011, the number of active breweries in Pennsylvania about doubled, according to the report.

Nationally, the craft beer category represents about 5 to 7 percent of the beer market, the report stated. But the study puts its share of the market in Pennsylvania at about 20 percent.

Under state rules dating to after Prohibition, beer makers generally must sell in the commonwealth to distributors, according to the report.

These wholesalers then sell products to taverns, restaurants and other licensed retailers where consumers are allowed to buy them.

But in-state breweries can be allowed to make sales and direct deliveries of their products to retailers, according to the report.

The U.S. Supreme Court case Granholm v. Heald said that if an in-state winery could ship directly to consumers in its state, an out-of-state winery has the right to sell in the same manner to the same customers.

So one of the report's recommendations is for lawmakers to address the Granholm v. Heald ruling.

Considered approaches include letting all malt beverage manufactures self-distribute or making them all go through the distributor system, according to the report.

A third is allowing self-distribution of a certain percentage of a beer maker's products, the report stated.